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Thesis Topic Help!
Hi everyone,
So I am in my fifth year of Architecture School and I need to choose a topic for my Masters Project. So far I have been thinking about doing this:
Through the introduction of psychology, how can we respond to the user needs more effectively to design an experience that caters to human behavior and redefines the role of the architect and architecture?
However, I am unsure as to what kind of design proposal I should apply my research on or in which direction to take this to and further distill it. Help please!!
hey hi , i don't think i'll be of much help since i'm still in my 2nd year but i was really impressed with the idea of hobbit house . so i was thinking would a hobbit house community or something like that be really simple for a thesis project ?
Your thesis is a little bit long winded but as I read it you are asking how we can design for the user rather than for aesthetics. I would look at Bjarke Ingles and see how his very similar design philosophy (as seen in this http://www.archdaily.com/477737/ad-interviews-bjarke-ingels-big/ interview, as well as almost all of his others) achieves this. Instead of focusing on how a design experience can cater to human behavior, look at people who have already done it.
Instead of trying to figure out how to apply your proposal, let your research lead you there...
I actually don't understand your thesis... what the heck do you mean by the introduction of psychology? Is this a thesis in psychology or architecture?
The better phrased question is: "what is the role of the architect and how can the architect better respond to users' needs of today's times?" When phrased like this, the question is clearer but still WAY too vague and broad...
That being said, if the underlying premise behind your question is that architects are not responding to users needs, I think it would be helpful to first identify a few examples which also ties into something I would do even before anything else: identify a broader societal "problem" that you think architects can somehow resolve through better design.
Once you identify this, you may first want to start your research by identifying the "user". Is it the average person, a particular community, a developer, government agency, etc.? Once you have defined the user, you can then discuss the above-mentioned "problem" vis a vis the particular user you will use in your research. This discussion can play out in an endless amount of ways and on many different scales. It can range from a discussion about a certain community's struggle with its water supply to something more mundane, like a person needing a bigger house. Either way, by identifying a larger problem and then zeroing in and discussing that problem through the lens of a particular user, you can then create a critical argument that will be the basis for your design.
Hope this helps...
Lukeggg right on. That is where I would start!
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